Starbound

13 - Those Who Control Us

Charlotte

My arms are beginning to ache by the time we get to the door. Helping Dr Evyan carry Zach on the stretcher wouldn't be a problem if the man would carry his fair share of my Pair's weight. As we reached the door, I go to bend down to place Zach on the ground so I can open it but Dr Evyan tells me not to.

'I don't think I'd be able to lift him back up again,' he tells me. Not like he's really lifting him anyway.

My body protests as I try to hold both poles of the stretcher with one arm while the other quickly reaches out to turn the handle. The poles have almost slipped off my wet-suit covered arm by the time the door's open. I quickly assume the way I was carrying them before, knuckles white with how tightly I'm gripping them because my hands are still wet because I didn't get a chance to dry off after the diving instructors hauled Zach out of the pool.

I shiver as we carry Zach into the halls and the cool air coming in contact with my wet body. The floor is cold beneath my bare feet and I nearly slip on the water that falls onto the floor from my dripping hair several times.

When we reach the infirmary, two men come to take the stretcher from us and I struggle not to slump in exhaustion when they do. Dr Evyan tells me he'll be with us in a moment and I follow them through the infirmary to a room full of beds. They lower the stretcher onto one and roll Zach off of it. The men straighten and walk away, leaving the two of us in the room, alone. I wrap my arms around myself and stand by Zach's bed, staring down at him. I feel awkward, watching someone while they're unconscious and begin to look around the room. Dr Evyan comes in a few minutes later followed by a nurse holding a towel. He hands it to me as she approaches.

'Here, you go take a shower and change,' he says. 'You may come back when you are done and he should be fine by then.'

I wrap the towel around my shoulders and hurry back to my dorm room to get a fresh set of clothes before going to have a quick shower. The whole time I'm away from the infirmary, I keeping thinking about the injection Dr Evyan gave Zach. He had been conscious but the doctor had knocked him out. He'd said it had something to do with chlorine poisoning, but there shouldn't have been enough chlorine in the pool to give him that. Something isn't right, but I decide I'll just keep an eye on Dr Evyan before saying anything more.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm back at the infirmary and heading to the room where they put Zach when someone jogs up to me and tells me to stop.

'Charlotte Desquita, right?' The woman waits for me to nod before continuing. 'I've been instructed to bring you to the control room.'

Frowning, I follow her to the dimly lit room full of computers where she leaves me by the doors before hurrying away. There are people inside it today, unlike the time we came in here on our first day. Many of them are busy typing away or are simply staring at their screens. There's an image of a starship up on a giant screen on the wall in front of them. Next to the ship's image are two photos, one of a girl and the other of a boy. I don't recognise them, but I know who they are. Last year's Pairs.

Something on the ship's side lights up red for a split second and then the screen turns black. The people all heave sighs and push away from their computers.

'That's all of last year's Pairs gone,' a man says from a desk at the back of the room. 'Well done team, they lasted longer than in previous years.'

'What was it this time?' A voice calls from up the front of the room.

'Asteroid,' another voice replies as they all begin to get up and file past me as they leave the room.

An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach, they didn't even last a year in space. I'd always known that Pairs didn't return and known that most of them died. I'd never known just how quickly until now. For the first time in my life, I'm beginning to doubt my excitement to be a Pair and understand my father's reaction when he found out I was chosen. I think that maybe until now, it hasn't quite sunken in that I will die soon. But I can't let myself think about that.